Fallujah, where four Americans were killed and their bodies defiled in the most appalling of fashions, may become shorthand for the tragedy of the United States' involvement in Iraq.

In themselves, the events at Fallujah on Wednesday were not remarkable in the context of the overall number of American losses incurred in Iraq -- a total of soldiers, civilian contractors and even missionaries now around 600. Nor is the Fallujah incident a reason in itself for America to decide to cut its losses and bring this affair to an end.

The names of places where awful things happen sometimes become reference points for milestones or crossroads in wars and other historical events. For instance, Srebrenica, the name of the town in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina where an estimated 8,000 Muslims were slaughtered while Dutch U.N. forces stood by, expresses in one word not only the cruelty of the post-Yugoslavia Balkan wars but also U.N. and European fecklessness in the face of threats and danger.

In Africa, Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has become shorthand for the October 1993 defeat of American forces in pursuit of Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed. Further, "Mogadishu" led shortly thereafter to the withdrawal of American forces from Somalia and is also used to refer to a gun-shyness on the part of the Clinton administration that led it to stand by while genocide was carried out in Rwanda the following year.

Fallujah so far has led to statements of resolution on the part of American military and political leaders to stay the course in Iraq in spite of what happened, in spite of a mounting toll of American, allied and Iraqi victims of the war. In the real world, what the Iraqis did there is clear evidence, if any were needed, of just how much some of them hate the United States as the conquering, occupying power.

A clear perception of that truth on the part of President Bush and his administration could serve as a sound basis for relinquishing primary, nearly sole, U.S. responsibility for the fate of Iraq and turning it over to the world, including Iraq's neighbors, and then to elected -- not U.S.-appointed -- Iraqis as quickly as possible. That can't be seen as being done because of the Fallujah incident, but there is also no point in trying to pretend that what Americans saw happen at Fallujah doesn't matter.

In the short run, all that can be done is extend deep condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the four men from a security company in North Carolina who died in horrible circumstances Wednesday. Their loss was in the event no worse than that of other Americans who have died in Iraq, but Fallujah will be much harder to forget.